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Billerica soldier happy to be home (VIDEO)

U.S. Army National Guard Sgt. Ken Murnane Jr., who just returned from his first overseas deployment in Kuwait, is happy to be home with his father, Ken Sr. Watch video at lowellsun.com.
SUN/Julia Malakie

Hearing that his other son would be heading to Kuwait with the National Guard, the Billerica father was fearful he would lose another.

"I was a nervous wreck," Murnane said in his Andover Road home on Tuesday.

"We all know what happened in Kuwait all those years ago, so it was scary," he added. "It made sleeping rough at night."

But then finally last week, he got his first good night's sleep in nine months. His son, Ken Jr., walked off the bus, embracing his family at Camp Curtis Guild in Reading.

Almost 150 Army National Guard soldiers of the 1060th Transportation Company, 164th Transportation Battalion, returned from a nine-month deployment to Kuwait in support of Operation Spartan Shield and Operation Inherent Resolve.

Sgt. Ken Murnane, of Billerica, was welcomed home last week after a 9-month deployment in Kuwait by his family. Courtesy photo

"Everyone was bawling their eyes out," Ken Jr., 33, said about the welcome home last week. "It was great to be home and see everybody.

" 'You're not leaving us again, Dad,' " he recalled the words from his 6-year-old daughter, Catherine.

Heading north on Route 3 in Billerica last week, drivers saw a "Welcome Home" display for the sergeant -- with an American flag and balloons. His sisters, Monica and Jamie, put up the display.

Coming home just days before the 15th anniversary of Sept. 11, "You could feel it," Ken Jr. said.

"You could just tell," he said. "Especially with the guys there who joined the day after 9/11."

The 1060th unit members conducted more than 500 missions, covering 346,000 miles.

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The members moved about 55 million pounds of equipment and supplies during their deployment.

The unit received the prestigious Army Safety Excellence Streamer as a result of no accidents and 100 percent completion of risk management training.

"It was good. We didn't have any major incidents," the sergeant said. "We trained rigorously in Texas, so we had a plan for everything. It went very well."

Ken Jr., who graduated from Billerica Memorial High School in 2001 and now has a home in the town's Pinehurst section, has been with the National Guard for close to eight years. For the last six years, he's been a full-time mechanic at the Reading camp.

In Kuwait, he was a vehicle inspector, making sure everything was safe. The vehicles were heading to the border, and delivered to the Iraqi army.

"What this unit accomplished during their time overseas was absolutely extraordinary," said Lt. Col. Jason Rose, commander of the 164th Transportation Battalion.

"Bringing all of this wealth of experience back to our organization is going to make us better prepared here in the commonwealth to respond when the governor and citizens here need us the most," he added.

This was the first time that Ken Jr. went overseas for the military. It was tough leaving his family for nine months, he said, but the Internet and Skype helped him connect with his wife, Heather, two kids (Catherine and Kenneth III), and other family members.

"I got to speak to him a lot by text," his father said. "He'd usually answer right back."

Despite the heat in Kuwait, Ken Jr. participated in a grueling physical fitness test, and he received the bronze medal out of 200 people.

For the event, he completed a 7.5-mile ruck march, a shuttle sprint, a flexed arm hang, and a 100-meter swim in his uniform.

"It felt like everything was dragging," he said. "It was like a parachute under water.

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Standing outside in Billerica on Tuesday, it could not have been a more different environment from Kuwait -- trees surrounded the property on a comfortable day compared to sand blowing all over on a 120-degree day.

A "Star Wars" buff, he compared it to when Luke Skywalker was in the desert, looking for Obi-Wan Kenobi, and there were two suns scorching the land.

"Thankfully, there was only one sun over there," Ken Jr. says with a laugh.

Follow Rick Sobey on Twitter and Tout @rsobeyLSun.

Heading north on Route 3 in Billerica last week, drivers saw this "Welcome Home" display for Sgt. Ken Murnane of Billerica.
Courtesy photo

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